Three booked in Agra hate speech

Lucknow, March 1 (ANI): The Agra Police on Tuesday registered a case against three persons for hurting religious sentiments and inciting communal tension during a Sangh Parivar meeting following the murder of a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader in the city.

“Case has been registered against three persons- Ashok Lavanya, Kundnika Sharma and Prashant Chaudhary for hurting religious sentiments and inciting communal tension in Agra. Case registered under relevant sections. Some speeches were made during a condolence meet in Agra which had hurt religious sentiments. Ram Shankar Katheria and Babulal were present during the speech,” IG (Law and Order) Bhagwan Swaroop told the media here.

Asked whether the three belonged to BJP or VHP, Swaroop said he did not have any information in this regard.

He said Union Minister of State for HRD Ram Shankar Katheriya’s name was not in the FIR lodged by the concerned sub-inspector Anil Kumar.

There was ruckus in the Parliament today over Katheria’s speech, with the Congress moving both the Houses for a discussion on the inflammatory remarks.

Katheria has cried foul over his alleged inflammatory speech in Agra as reported by a leading national daily garnering him criticism and said that the report is completely untrue.

According to reports, Katheria, along with BJP MP from Fatehpur Sikri Babu Lal, had recently attended a condolence meeting held for VHP worker Arun Mahaur, who was allegedly killed by Muslim youth, in Agra. During the meeting, several speakers threatened the Muslim community of revenge.

Among the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Hindu leaders who gave speeches laced with communal poison were Katheriya, Agra (Rural) MP Babulal, Sadhvi Prachi and several other local BJP leaders.